Brooke and Michael : Snippets
by A Girl Heading Nowhere
Summary: Take a little peak into the love story of Brooke Penelope Kingston and her friend Michael Gordon Clifford of 5 Seconds of Summer. Starring : Michael Clifford, Brooke Kingston, Luke Hemmings, Calum Hood and Ashton Irwin


**Brooke and Michael : Snippets**

I.

At twelve years of age, she had entered into his life quickly but quietly. She had become his neighbour first, his classmate next and then his best friend. It had been two weeks after she had moved in as his neighbour that Michael had finally gone to school (he simply didn't like going to school much) to find out that she was in the same grade as him. Two weeks in and she had already earned a name for herself. Which wasn't surprising seeing as who she had just moved in with.

Michael had been living in the same house since his birth and his neighbour had always been Mr Richard Stark, a Navy man who had been single forever (according to Michael) and who was an alumni of Norwest Christian College, a quite famous alumni at that. And so the arrival of a girl called Brooke Kingston, who was the daughter of their star football player, was of course a big thing.

She was pretty enough. Brunette, blue eyes, slender. Pretty enough, like he said. But her features still weren't that out of the ordinary really. They were just normal. But her personality was something else entirely.

Michael wasn't the most popular kid in school, hell he was the guy everybody wanted to kill probably for being a jerk, and neither was Calum Hood, his best friend. So it was kinda hard to talk to the girl who had made her mark and was already accepted amongst the popular kids.

Until, the following month when she saw Michael sitting outside his house, on the porch, playing the guitar. His family had just lost a lot of money and Michael wasn't really going through a good time in his life.

"Hey. You are the kid from the school right?", she had asked in her American accent.

"Yes. And you are the Stark girl ya?", he had asked in imitation of her.

"It's Kingston actually.", she had answered bitingly.

He didn't bother with her surname anymore and simply asked, "What are you doing here Kingston?"

She shrugged and spoke, "Nothing. Just saw you. Which is very rare. Don't see you at school much."

His family wasn't doing so well right at the moment and Michael just wanted to be left alone. This girl was just irritating him. So he didn't even bother with her anymore. "Well now you saw me. So bye.", he rudely replied and walked inside.

II.

It had taken him a little while before he finally decided to apologise to Brooke. He had gone to her house to apologise and that was the start of their weird friendship. They would talk in the evenings but mostly in the night when Michael would usually just sneak out of his house after dinner to go to her place. He rarely went to school and even on the days he did go to school, they wouldn't talk because they were just in different social circles.

"So what's the deal with your dad?", Michael asked one day as he sat with Brooke in her room.

"He is a Navy man. He goes off for months because of the job.", she answered without looking up from her assignment.

"I know that idiot. I mean, what is up with you and him? I have lived here all my life and I never knew he had a daughter until you showed up." This is something Michael had been dying to know for a long time. He had even asked Calum about it but Cal too had no idea about it.

Brooke sighed deeply before speaking up, "My parents never married. Mum told me they dated briefly but I just think I was nothing more than a one night stand. Anyway, with dad's job keeping him away for so long, mum won full custody. Mum was American so I stayed in New York and took on her name but she passed away and so here I am."

Before Michael could express his condolences, she spoke up, "It's okay. You don't need to be sorry or anything. She had cancer. I knew she was dying. I am all good here."

They never spoke of Brooke's parents again but that day Michael discovered the side of Brooke Kingston he had never seen. It was like Brooke Penelope Kingston had the ability to be two completely different people - the popular detached cheerleader at school who hung out with bullies (though Michael had never seen her bully someone yet) and the normal teenage girl who had the brains and something called emotions.

Over the years, without realising it Michael had memorised everything about her. From the way she would scrunch up her nose before sneezing (which reminded Michael of kittens and so he began to associate her with kittens) to the way she would bite her lower lip when she was thinking. Like the fact that she was absolutely shit at video games and surprisingly the fact that she was a complete vegetarian. She liked wearing full sleeved shirts and sweaters and would always pull the arms of the shirt to make sweater paws and she loved walking around bare feet. She would also draw these little ship anchors on any surface she could find but he never asked her why.

III.

Year Nine rolled in and Michael learnt of Brooke's new boyfriend called Mark and Luke Hemmings' crush on Brooke. He developed instant hatred for both the boys. But Michael also learnt that he had clearly been friend-zoned. Brooke looked at him like a friend and nothing more. She seemed to be perfectly happy with Mark and would always be with him. This resulted in Michael going back to the habit of being cooped away in his room, a thing that had started since he was around 10. He again stopped going to school completely. Without Brooke, he really only had Calum as a friend and Calum would come over in the evenings so really school took a back seat. So did his crush on Brooke.

Until, a month after the Mark and Brooke thing started, she came to his house to talk. He had been in his room and embarrassingly enough he was wearing these purplish-pink cosmic sparkly galaxy pants that he had always hated (but they were damn comfy). She burst into his room, gave him (his pants to be exact) one look and started laughing.

"Oh God, Michael! You look ridiculous! ", she chimed in between fits of laughter .

"Remember when I asked for your opinion? Yeah, me neither.", he said seriously but ended up laughing himself. And just like that everything was back to the way it had been. And bonus points, Brooke and Mark had just broken up.

"Okay. The one place you wanna go and why?", he asked her as they sat in his room talking of anything and everything. They would ask each other such random questions all the time. It was fun and silly sometimes.

"Uhhh… To the moon. Because there are no idiotic people, you for example, over there.", she answered. "Oooo… Favourite pizza topping?"

"Pepperoni no doubt. And you are a stupid person for not liking it.", he answered without looking away from his video game.

"Oh… Did you hear Luke Hemmings is gay?", she asked him and this question made him pause the game. The guy was not gay, hell he liked Brooke who was clearly a girl.

"And where did you hear that from, you mad girl?", he asked finally turning towards her.

"Stella… The blonde cheerleader in our year. Remember her? Or is your memory really weak, you old noob?"

"You don't realise that they are actually making fun of that guy? He is not gay, silly.", Michael replied and finally decided to turn back to his game.

"But that's bullying.", she spoke affronted at the very thought of it.

"No shit Sherlock!", Michael sarcastically quipped which earned him a slap on his arm and the question, "Why am I friends with you, you piece of shit?".

Their conversation was interrupted when Calum came into his room. Really had nobody heard of knocking.

Brooke stared at Calum for a while before turning back to Michael and whispering, "See ya tonight."

IV.

Grade ten was probably the biggest year of Michael's life. He somehow ended up becoming best friends with Luke Hemmings, but obviously only after making sure the guy had stopped liking Brooke (and actually Luke just found her pretty and there had been no crush to begin with). He, Luke and Calum start singing (and were later joined by Ashton), putting stuff on Youtube and in those moments, Michael feels like he belongs, he gets the same feelings that Brooke gives him and honestly it is absolutely thrilling. He enjoys every second of it.

"Oi! Where are you, you psycho?", Michael asks as he enters Brooke's house.

Somebody cleared their throat and Michael turned to notice Mr Stark standing there, looking at him. Well, it look like he has finally come back from the sea for the time being.

"Uh…", Michael didn't know what to say. Really, what are you supposed to say to the man whose daughter was just called a psycho by you.

"Brooke's not here at the moment. And really you should be here this late at night, don't you think?", Mr Stark spoke up and Michael realised that the most important fact here was not that he had called Brooke a psycho but that he had showed up at her house after dinner, which is pretty late.

"Ummm…" For a moment Michael honestly thought of quoting some song lyrics or something because the ability to form proper sentences had clearly left him.

"So what? You are dating her now?", Brooke's father asks and Michael does the only think he can think of right now. He runs away. Not the best moment of his life honestly.

Two days later, Brooke does speak of this to Michael and she manages to take the mickey out of him so much that Michael stops talking to her for two whole days. Then they fight over something Michael can't even remember properly and before you know it, they were not talking altogether.

Then comes some school event that Michael can't even be bothered to remember the name of. What he does know is that it means free periods. The students had been scattered all over the school and Michael, Luke and Calum had gone to sit in the ground with some of their friends including Aleisha (whom Luke actually does like). Luke had just finished singing 'Forever my Father' and had come to join them on the ground when he saw the school Coach (A/N : the physical education teacher in case you can't understand) and Brooke. Brooke, in her cheerleading uniform, was following Coach and begging him for something while Coach was not even giving her a second's attention.

The duo were right in front of them when Coach stopped and turned to Brooke, "I said no. And I will keep saying no. If she can't keep up the grades, she is not going to be a cheerleader anymore. So stop this right now, Ms Kingston. I have better things to do than be followed around by a begging cheerleader."

As the Coach left, Michael turned to look at Brooke. He had never seen her that angry. Cheeks flushed, stare as cold as ice as she bit the inside of her right cheek, Brooke Kingston was a sight for Michael.

"Brooke, what did he say?" Michael turned to his left as he heard the question in a female voice and spotted three cheerleaders, one of whom was Stella.

"What do you think he said? He said no, of course.", Brooke spat out those words and Michael could sense the anger radiating off of her.

One of the the girls standing beside Stella spotted Thomas, Michael's friend and commented, "Oh look. It's the loser with his gang of friends." Alright then. Michael hated the girl. And the two others as well when they started laughing at Michael and his group.

Brooke was the first one to speak up quite vehemently, "What are you lot doing here? I remember I clearly told you to practice and not follow me around like lost children." Michael was about to begin laughing but that laughter died down when the four cheerleaders standing in front of him were joined by three guys, one of whom was Dean, Brooke's current boyfriend.

"Hey babes.", Dean spoke up and that is the reason why Michael did not laugh.

"I don't have time to deal with you right now Dean.". Wow, Brooke had clearly reached the end of her patience.

"Chill babes. What's wrong with you? You PMS-ing or what?", Dean spoke and sent a smirk to his two friends standing behind him.

"Is your middle name jerk? Cos you can be one sometimes." Brooke spoke up before almost almost shouting out the next words, "Oh and for that comment, don't bother showing up at my house after school or I will fucking kick you out. Now leave!"

"And you three,", she spoke rounding on the three cheerleaders, "I said practice. Don't just stand here staring at me."

Pissed off Brooke commanded some deep shit respect, Michael realised, as everybody Brooke told to leave scattered away. Brooke did finally turn towards where his group was sitting and stared straight at Michael before walking away, her skirt swishing with her walk. Michael was surprised that after the whole fight they had had, Brooke had bothered to even defend Michael and his friends, no matter how weird the method was.

"Woah!", Michael heard somebody in his group speak up but he didn't really follow that conversation and instead excused himself to follow Brooke.

"Hey are you okay?", he asked as he finally caught up to her.

"Do I look fine?", she spoke and Michael realised from her voice that she had been crying.

"Brooke? Hey, look at me. Brooke, what's wrong?" Michael moved closer to her until he finally stood right in front of her. As she looked up at her with tear stained eyes and red nose, Michael fell in love for the first time in his life. Atleast, he thinks it's love.

Brooke doesn't even reply but she hugs him and starts crying and Michael just lets her. It is later in the night when he comes to know that it's the death anniversary of Brooke's mum.

V.

The move to England event is the biggest change in his life. He doesn't even tell Brooke of it until the day he is leaving. At sharp six am on the morning of his departure he knocks on Brooke's door. Mr Stark had left already so again it was just Brooke in the house.

As the door opens he sees Brooke; messed up hair, bare feet, sweater paw Brooke and he finds her so cute in that moment. Until she shouts out, "Michael! What the fuck are you doing here? It's freaking six in the morning."

"I know. I just. I came to tell you I am leaving.", he speaks up and this is the most scared he has ever felt.

Brooke looks at him weirdly before asking, "What do you mean _leaving_?" The way she says the word leaving in just above a whisper makes Michael feel real good, it makes him feel like he matters to her.

"Umm… Remember my band?", Michael asks as he internally prepares himself to explain her everything.

"5 Seconds of Summer?", she interrogates and Michael likes the fact that she remembers the name of the band. He had come up with the name.

"Yeah..", he asks again and suddenly Michael feels like he is playing the question answer game with her.

"Well… What about it?", she asks finally fed up with this game.

"The band is gonna move to England. To maybe write songs or record an album." He looks at Brooke long and hard after this. The silence he receives from Brooke makes the air awkward.

"So…", Brooke starts speaking after some time, "when are you moving?"

Michael looks down to the floor as he sees Brooke's eyes get sadder by the moment. "Tonight. Leaving around eight.", he sighs. More than a minute's silence follows his statement.

"Do you wanna play some video games, you dick? Maybe I can finally beat you before you leave.", Brooke speaks up all cheered up and Michael loves her for trying to take his mind off this big move.

"You have like barely five video games here, silly.", Michael answers because it is the truth. There are exactly five video games here (all of which actually belong to Michael) and they are all here because Michael is such a regular at her house.

"Ya. But if I didn't know you, there would be zero games. So five is a big number for me.", Brooke answers as she heads inside.

As they play Final Fantasy, a video game Michael is clearly winning at, Brooke asks, "Are you scared?"

Michael pauses the game before looking at her, "It would be foolish if I wasn't scared right?" Because they are moving out of Australia. Michael is leaving his home behind. Michael is leaving behind Brooke. Of course he is shit scared.

"But is it wrong if I'm equally excited?", Michael asks barely above a whisper because this is some big shit that is going on around here.

"Of course not Mikey.", Brooke says affronted and Michael realises that this is the first time she has called him Mikey. Most of the time, they just call each other idiot and stupid or something like that. Very rarely do they call each other by their actual names, let alone nicknames.

"A part of me actually wants you to stay here only, you know. Is that bad?", she asks him and Michael just shakes his head no.

"I'm so proud of you, do you know that? You guys are gonna get so big. Which is brilliant. Because I'm gonna end up shit poor and so you are gonna end up taking care of me.", Brooke jokes and Michael just laughs along with her. They have always joked of how they are both gonna end up doing nothing in life. But now Michael has a band and no matter what Brooke says, Michael knows she is okay in studies (better than him atleast) and has full plans of pursuing fashion designing. Michael has seen the designs scattered all around her house and so he knows she is actually good at it.

"Please, I'm pretty sure you are gonna end up being better than me. The band can end any moment, like when people stop liking us. Then we will just be some random guys who were in a band once." For the first time Michael has voiced out his fear of the band ending someday, of people not liking them anymore.

"Don't say stuff like that. Are you fucking blind? People love you guys Mikey. And they always will. And then more people will like 5SOS and so more people will love you and before you know it, girls will be lining up to marry you."

"You gonna be so big Mikey. And hey, who knows! Maybe if you are rich enough, you can take me to the moon or something. Or maybe another planet altogether. Just you and me. Away from all the idiotic people we know."

"You are a complete weirdo Brooke Kingston.", Michael says with a wry smile as his phone starts ringing. It's the 7:50 am alarm. His mum would come at eight to wake him up and so he needed to be home by then.

"Shit. I gotta go. Mum's gonna come for me.", Michael says as he starts moving to the door with Brooke close behind him.

Brooke is the first to vocalise her thoughts as they stand right at the door of her house. "So you ain't going to school I guess then."

"Naa… I'm spending the day with my parents.", Michael utters and he can hear the sound of a heart breaking and he doesn't know if it's Brooke's or his.

Brooke hugs him tight, with her arms around his waist as her hands grip the back of his shirt and he thinks she is crying. "Promise me you'll take care of yourself Michael Gordon Clifford and please don't grow any taller, you giant."

Michael doesn't really wanna let her go. He wants just another minute, another moment with her and so he holds her even tighter. "You take care of yourself too. I'll miss you Brooke."

The snoozed alarm starts again and Michael realises that he really has to go and so he finally detangles himself from Brooke and kisses her on the forehead before leaving. He has never kissed her anywhere before.

That night as Michael is leaving with his bandmates, Calum notices Brooke and draws Michael's attention to her. Michael has never told Calum about how he feels for Brooke but Calum just knows. Michael is a hundred percent sure that Calum knows that Michael loves Brooke, hell Calum might have known of it even before Mikey himself realised it. Though Calum had also once claimed that Mikey should forget about Brooke because she was over his limit.

She had been sitting on her porch just looking at the boys and so Michael excuses himself and makes his way to her. His parents, his bandmates, his bandmates' parents, every single one of them is there and waiting for the boys to leave but Michael still goes to Brooke.

She stands up as she sees him approaching and quickly smiles.

"You were actually pretty late in telling me that you are leaving and so this is the best going away present I could come up with. Thank you so much Michael for being my home." She hands him a photograph and kisses him right on the corner of his mouth before walking back into her house.

Michael touches the corner of his lips and he turns the picture around. He remembers this photograph. It had been taken towards the end of Year Ten.

 _"C'mon it's just one picture. Get in the fucking frame you piece of shit.", Brooke had shouted as she tried to get Michael's attention. He had been playing a video game and had to pause it just for Brooke's picture._

 _He silently moves to stand beside Brooke waiting for the picture to be clicked._

 _"Ugh.. You are too tall and are so out of frame. Move behind me.", Brooke commanded and he silently followed her orders._

 _"Don't go so far behind. Come a little closer to me, will ya?", a very agitated Brooke remarked._

 _Michael had still been a little pissed with the whole Dean drama in Brooke's life that he had done the boldest thing ever when it came to Brooke Kingston. He had literally moved right behind her, and pulled her by the hips so that their bodies touched. His head just a little above her left shoulder, he turned to her and asked, "Is this fine?"_

 _She had turned her head just a fraction of an inch towards him but it was close enough that he could just lean in and kiss her. "Yeah… That's fine.", she had squeaked and Michael had been so proud of himself for getting that reaction from her._

And now there was that picture right in his hands. Michael with his hands on Brooke's hips as his head pokes above Brooke's left shoulder. Brooke is looking at the camera but Mikey is actually looking at Brooke. And Michael thinks that it sums up their relationship perfectly. Michael only has eyes for Brooke while she looks everywhere but at Michael. It had a message behind it.

 _Don't forget me, you ass._

 _Love,_

 _Brooke._

That picture became his favourite belonging ever.

VI.

At seventeen, Michael and the boys return to Sydney for a short while before leaving again. As Michael returns back to his parents, he does think of quickly dropping by at Brooke's place. But to his surprise Brooke's house is completely locked down.

That's when he asks his mum about it and the way his mum's eyes widen at the mention of Brooke, Michael knows something is wrong.

"Her father passed away a little while back.", his mum speaks gravely.

"And you didn't tell me?!" Michael is outraged at his mum or probably himself. Michael and Brooke had lost touch when Michael had gotten a London SIM and discarded his Australian SIM, completely forgetting that Brooke's number was on the Aussie SIM. And Brooke didn't use Twitter much. So really they had lost contact for all the silly reasons.

"Where is she now?", Michael asks after a moment of quiet contemplation.

"Just started Uni… I don't know where. She just packed her bags and left in the middle of the night. One morning she was there wishing me good morning and the next day I see a big lock on her door. I'm sorry Mikey." His mum hugs him tightly after that and Michael realises that his mum had known a lot more about him and Brooke than he thought she knew. It seemed everybody knew of his love for Brooke Kingston except for the girl herself.

VII.

Michael's 21st birthday is coming up in three days as he heads back to Sydney after spending time with his friends and girlfriend in Cancun. Ash is still in America and would be returning by the night flight to meet his family as well as celebrate Mikey's 21st birthday. The plan had already been made. Dinner at Mikey's place before all four boys head out to party.

As Luke, Mikey and Cal had come together, they just decided to share a car with Michael being dropped off first since his house was the closest to the airport. But no taxi ride could have prepared him for the sight of Brooke Kingston standing in front of him, so many years after their last goodbye.

As Michael got out of the car, he saw Brooke give a flying kiss to the man at the wheel of the car she was standing in front of. She finally turned away from the car and spotted him. The shock on her face was so evident as she rushed to her house. But Michael was so done with this shit and so he ran after her and caught up to her just in time. She had almost closed the door of her house when Michael had managed to stick his hand in the gap.

"Will you just fucking stop it Michael?", Brooke shouted from the gap and Michael was just as pissed as her and so he asked "Stop what?"

Thank God Calum and Luke were still there and as Michael finally overpowered Brooke and entered her house, Cal and Luke rushed in.

"Calm down, Michael.", Luke begged as the three boys stood at the door of Brooke's house.

"Don't tell me to fucking calm down.", Michael seethed in anger.

Calum moved right in front of Brooke as if to protect her and Michael shouted out, "What? Do you guys really think I'm gonna hurt her?"

"No mate. It's not that. We know you wouldn't. But you really need to calm it down. You are scaring her.", Calum spoke up and Michael turned to look at Brooke, who had been reduced to tears almost.

"Fuck.", Michael whispered as he walked out of the house to just stand. It was a few minutes later that both Luke and Calum came out of Brooke's house and said their goodbyes to Michael. As both his friends drove away, Michael walked into Brooke's house to see her sitting on the sofa. He silently joined her.

"Not even one call Michael. Not even a single fucking message. You stopped just like that.", Brooke whispered and Michael wanted to cry with her at this point.

"Me? What about you Brooke? You didn't tell me about your dad. Or that you were leaving Sydney. Can you imagine how I felt when I came to see you and found a locked door?", Michael uttered before continuing, "I still had a band. We had been touring non-stop. What was your excuse? Why did you not send me one message? Even a 'Hi'?"

Brooke's voice was laced with disgust as she spoke the next words, "Me? Are you fucking screwing with me? I messaged you. I left you tons of messages. Every single day. For a whole year after you stopped messaging me. I wrote you 365 messages. I even called. Even when they told me that the phone was switched off. I messaged you every single day."

"Balls. Fuck man. You kept messaging on the Australian number. I changed SIMs.", Michael explained and Brooke slapped him hard across his face.

She stood right in front of him and started hitting him at each word she spoke, "You. Ungrateful. Piece . Of. Shit. What. A. Complete. Ass. You. Are. I. Wanna. Fucking. Kill. You."

He is able to stand up in between the barrage of hits she sends his way and whispers, "I'm sorry."

As Brooke looks up at him, Michael realises so much has changed. So much has changed between him and Brooke that he is afraid of what happens next. The shining sun sets as the two of them stand there with Brooke crying on Michael's shoulders.

VIII.

He visits her everyday now. Just like old times. She has just finished her fashion designing course in New York and Mikey is more than proud of her.

It is on 19th of November 2016 that their world starts to turn upside down. Michael had just come to invite her for his birthday celebrations and surprisingly Brooke had turned down the invite.

"But why not?", Michael interrogated, trying to find the reason for her rejection.

"I know nobody Michael.", Brooke remarks as she moved out of her bedroom and Michael followed her.

"But you'll know me. The birthday boy. And you kinda know Luke and Calum.", Michael counters.

"I know you yes. But I have never properly talked to Luke and Calum. And even then, there aren't gonna be only three people at the party you realise.", Brooke argues back and Michael accepts that it's a good point.

"Fine you can bring one or two of your friends Brooke. Please. C'mon. It's my 21st birthday. You have to come. I'm gonna drag you out of your house if I have to but you are coming. That's final.", Michael states and ends this ridiculous discussion.

The next day as planned, they do go out to party. But Michael's mood is spoiled by the fact that Brooke has brought a guy with her. Not just any guy but the guy she had sent a flying kiss to. So safe to assume that this man was a boyfriend. And he was the only person Brooke had called.

The party continues and Michael drinks and drinks just to blur the sight of Brooke and the guy Michael doesn't even remember the name of. Brooke approaches him late into the party scene to tell him she is leaving. In Michael's defence he isn't proud of the scene he creates as he takes Brooke and the guy outside to say goodbyes.

"So you leaving to go fuck him?", Michael asks the moment they reach the parking lot.

"What?!", Brooke utters out the simple word.

"It's okay. You can tell me. Are you dating him?", Michael asks again in his drunk stupor.

"That's not exactly your business. So butt out.", the guy speaks from his place beside Brooke.

"I'm not talking to you man! So shut the fuck up!", Michael declares before Brooke asks her date to go bring the car around.

"You are drunk Michael. Let me take you home. I'll leave Luke and Calum a message.", Brooke urges him as she moves to grab his arm.

"No! I don't wanna go home with that boy. I don't like him." Michael pouts.

"And why don't you like him? You haven't even spoken to him properly.", Brooke sighs talking to him like he were a baby.

"Do you love him?", Michael asks in a whisper as Brooke stands in front of him.

"Of course. He is my friend."

"But you love me more right?", Michael asks again before pouting at her.

"I love you more than you could ever realise.", Brooke whispers and Michael can feel the breath she releases as she speaks those words. She is so close to him that it tempts Michael and so he kisses her. She does stumble back a little but Michael pulls her closer by the waist deepening the kiss. It's kinda sobering. This kiss. After all, he has dreamt of this since he was a teen.

They break up when they hear somebody call Brooke. It is her date and Brooke quickly detaches herself from Michael and leaves him standing in the parking lot. Alone.

IX.

The following afternoon Michael does show up at Brooke's house, completely sobered up. He had headed home after the kiss the previous night and stayed awake until the early hours of dawn just thinking of a million 'what ifs'.

He hesitates a little before opening the door and walking into the house. The song he hears on full volume is quite an old one, a song called 'Strangers in the Night' by Frank Sinatra. He remembers it being one of Brooke's favourite and she had even told him that it was a song her mother used to sing a lot.

He finally locates Brooke at the coffee table, surrounded by all kinds of gadgets, laptop, iPhone, iPod, chargers for all them. She sits in the middle of, what Michael thinks is, a scattered mess.

"Hey.", he calls out and Brooke takes her eyes off her phone to look at him in horror. As her face changes from horror to surprise Michael realises that they are both in uncharted waters here and every step needs to be taken carefully. The plans had been simpler in Michael's head, apologise for kissing her _without consent,_ deal with her boyfriend and tell her that he has loved her for years. Simple plan. And yet he cannot words to speak out.

By now Brooke had abandoned her place on her couch and was standing just two steps in front of Michael.

He is so conscious around her that he fidgets for a moment and scratches the back of head before muttering, "About last night… What did your boyfriend say? I can talk to him for you if you want. I'll tell him it was my fault."

Brooke looks up at him in shock before looking down to the ground and speaking, "I'm not… We are not dating. Troy is gay."

Okay. Michael did not see that coming. That statement did leave him speechless but not so much as the next words that come out of her mouth. "What did you tell your girlfriend?"

So he had screwed up big time. For one he had forgotten his girlfriend, and two, he had forgotten to tell said girlfriend about the events of the previous night.

"Oh fuck, Mikey! You didn't even tell her?", Brooke harshly utters before moving further away from him. "I am so dumb, so fucking dumb. I should have known this. Should have seen this coming."

"You know what Michael? Just get out of my house. Like right now."

"But Brooke…"

"No. Just no. You have embarrassed me enough, okay? I thought you actually liked me, that if nothing else then atleast I was important to you. But clearly not. Not only do you think it was a mistake but clearly a mistake not even worth mentioning to your told me not to love you. I should have just listened.."

"You love me?" Michael interrupts her speech because these are the only words that matter right now.

As Brooke turns to him Michael realises that not only is she pissed but she is also upset because her eyes are slightly watery.

"Are you kidding? Of course I do. I have loved you for so long, you idiot. And look at where that has gotten me? Please. Just leave me alone. _Please_."

Michael agrees with her because he realises that both of them need to be alone. Or atleast away from each other.

Which means he heads home and calls all three of his bandmates because right now he needs as many opinions as he can get.

X.

He shows up to Brooke's house that night again. After much deliberation, a long talk with his bandmates, Michael finally knows what he wants.

This time he knocks on the door and prays that Brooke won't shut it in his face. Thankfully, she doesn't. Well this was the big moment of his life.

"Before you say anything or scream at me or whatever, just hear me out okay? You were wrong. You are important to me. More important than you know. And I'm glad that you love me. Because I love you, Brooke Penelope Kingston. I have been in love with you since we were 15-16 years old. But I suck. Because it took me so long to say those words to you. And don't worry about Crystal. I broke up with her. Swear to you. I did it over FaceTime. Luke, Cal and Ash can support me here.

"So here's the thing. I'm shit at big romantic gestures and proclamation of love, so I'm simply gonna say this. I love you and I would really like it if you would love me too."

Brooke's kiss is all the answer he needs.

The End.

 **A/N: Do let me know if you guys want a little sequel to this which would basically be a moment from Brooke and Michael's life together and Luke, Ash and Cal's opinions and relationship with Brooke.**


End file.
